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Q: What is Chinese culture for you nowadays?
Part 1 – What is Chinese Culture?
“Chinese culture” is a slogan, invented fairly recently by the Communist Party, and spoken by Chinese people without a rational connection to anything they have actually observed. The term is a fuzzy, ambiguous one, meant to inspire pride amongst Chinese people, and a sense that something about their country or its history is uniquely desirable. It is not meant to be examined or understood because it doesn’t actually point anywhere. At least not anywhere nice.
Assertions about China which include the words “Chinese culture” can be stumped simply by asking “what does that mean?”
If you interrupt anything I say with "what does that mean?", I will be happy to rephrase what I said in numerous ways, or define the terminology I used, because I have a working comprehension of what everything I say means, as I say it.
This isn't so for Chinese people. They repeat words that they have heard many times, like “Chinese culture” and “long history”, but without the words corresponding to a lucid idea in their minds.
If questioned on what something they have heard and repeated means, their facial expression usually indicates that it didn’t mean much. “Huh? Why does something I say have to mean something? I say words because they sound familiar, not because I think of language as something with which to understand and elucidate the real world.”
The use of “Chinese culture” and other catchphrases as a substitute for actual observations is symptomatic of “thinking in slogans”. Instead of pointing out uniquely Chinese phenomena that inspire pride, Chinese people simply detach their brains from reality, and believe that examples of wonderful Chinese culture abound, without specifically thinking of what.
“Thinking in slogans” means that instead of understanding the world through interaction, experience and deduction, Chinese people prefer to understand it by repeating comforting words. As a result, the gap between Chinese people’s (frequently rehearsed) statements about China and the reality in which they live has become a gaping chasm.
Part 2 – What is Culture?
A dictionary could probably answer this more concisely, but I would say that culture is A) the creative productions (art, literature, music, media…) that distinguish a region from others, and B) the activities (whether traditional rituals or everyday behaviour) which are characteristic of that society.
Regarding the former, China produces little of note. Its media productions are either repellent self-praise or inferior copies of American productions (though still including liberal amounts of self-praise). Neither sort is particularly creative or distinct, nor of any interest to anyone who has experienced something interesting. Meanwhile, China’s artistic productions involve the mass-replication of traditional styles, in an attempt to define Chinese culture as something valuable from the past that remains centrally important, as though poets sitting atop bamboo covered mountains continue to embody the Chinese zeitgeist. And music… To say that Chinese music sounds like cats fucking would be a grievous insult to amorous cats.
Regarding the latter, Chinese culture involves loud, obnoxious, dirty, inconsiderate and deeply uncivilised public behaviour; making obvious/moronic statements instead of developing a more nuanced understanding of the world; rolling up shirts to expose hemispherical pot bellies (this is probably the high point of Chinese culture); incompetence and excuse-making at work; KTV; and being simultaneously dishonest and gullible.
Whether the Chinese people of yore were actually modest, honest, interested in philosophy and moral virtue, good at calligraphy, or prone to posing near pear blossoms, it has no relevance to what we see outside today.
Perhaps it’s time for a little self-awareness China. Until you allow freedom of expression you will never produce anything interesting. And until you start confronting your own behaviour instead of justifying it, your behaviour will never be admirable.
tomcatflyer:
Excellent post Samsara. I thought of answering this but having read yours there is nothing to say other than I loved the comment regarding amorous cats.
xinyuren:
Although I do not approve of your usual heavy-handed slap and insult of China, I do agree strongly on one point. China's dearth of culture is the direct result of restricted freedom of expression. Healthy culture can't be born from fear. It comes from inspiration and hope. If the only thing you can offer to your people is a watered down reproduction of the good ole days, then there can never be any new ideas. Tourism is down this year. Why come to China when there is nothing good or authentic in China to see? I see no reason.
rasklnik:
The kung-fu, poetry, landscape painter er-hu musician is largely dead among the youth. How often does a young person like Beijing Opera?
-I agree 100% with you, there really is NO Chinese Culture in the modern PRC among youth. They are all, with a few rare exception, Justin Beiber listening, Korean Soap-watching, Americans in their pursuit of social networking, pointless video games, and celebrity worship.
-My students have little interest in Melville, Dostoyevsky, or Poe, and glaze over when Euripides or Sophicles comes up in Drama class, yet they all know boy bands from Korea and stupid s*** on american TV.
Part 1 – What is Chinese Culture?
“Chinese culture” is a slogan, invented fairly recently by the Communist Party, and spoken by Chinese people without a rational connection to anything they have actually observed. The term is a fuzzy, ambiguous one, meant to inspire pride amongst Chinese people, and a sense that something about their country or its history is uniquely desirable. It is not meant to be examined or understood because it doesn’t actually point anywhere. At least not anywhere nice.
Assertions about China which include the words “Chinese culture” can be stumped simply by asking “what does that mean?”
If you interrupt anything I say with "what does that mean?", I will be happy to rephrase what I said in numerous ways, or define the terminology I used, because I have a working comprehension of what everything I say means, as I say it.
This isn't so for Chinese people. They repeat words that they have heard many times, like “Chinese culture” and “long history”, but without the words corresponding to a lucid idea in their minds.
If questioned on what something they have heard and repeated means, their facial expression usually indicates that it didn’t mean much. “Huh? Why does something I say have to mean something? I say words because they sound familiar, not because I think of language as something with which to understand and elucidate the real world.”
The use of “Chinese culture” and other catchphrases as a substitute for actual observations is symptomatic of “thinking in slogans”. Instead of pointing out uniquely Chinese phenomena that inspire pride, Chinese people simply detach their brains from reality, and believe that examples of wonderful Chinese culture abound, without specifically thinking of what.
“Thinking in slogans” means that instead of understanding the world through interaction, experience and deduction, Chinese people prefer to understand it by repeating comforting words. As a result, the gap between Chinese people’s (frequently rehearsed) statements about China and the reality in which they live has become a gaping chasm.
Part 2 – What is Culture?
A dictionary could probably answer this more concisely, but I would say that culture is A) the creative productions (art, literature, music, media…) that distinguish a region from others, and B) the activities (whether traditional rituals or everyday behaviour) which are characteristic of that society.
Regarding the former, China produces little of note. Its media productions are either repellent self-praise or inferior copies of American productions (though still including liberal amounts of self-praise). Neither sort is particularly creative or distinct, nor of any interest to anyone who has experienced something interesting. Meanwhile, China’s artistic productions involve the mass-replication of traditional styles, in an attempt to define Chinese culture as something valuable from the past that remains centrally important, as though poets sitting atop bamboo covered mountains continue to embody the Chinese zeitgeist. And music… To say that Chinese music sounds like cats fucking would be a grievous insult to amorous cats.
Regarding the latter, Chinese culture involves loud, obnoxious, dirty, inconsiderate and deeply uncivilised public behaviour; making obvious/moronic statements instead of developing a more nuanced understanding of the world; rolling up shirts to expose hemispherical pot bellies (this is probably the high point of Chinese culture); incompetence and excuse-making at work; KTV; and being simultaneously dishonest and gullible.
Whether the Chinese people of yore were actually modest, honest, interested in philosophy and moral virtue, good at calligraphy, or prone to posing near pear blossoms, it has no relevance to what we see outside today.
Perhaps it’s time for a little self-awareness China. Until you allow freedom of expression you will never produce anything interesting. And until you start confronting your own behaviour instead of justifying it, your behaviour will never be admirable.
tomcatflyer:
Excellent post Samsara. I thought of answering this but having read yours there is nothing to say other than I loved the comment regarding amorous cats.
xinyuren:
Although I do not approve of your usual heavy-handed slap and insult of China, I do agree strongly on one point. China's dearth of culture is the direct result of restricted freedom of expression. Healthy culture can't be born from fear. It comes from inspiration and hope. If the only thing you can offer to your people is a watered down reproduction of the good ole days, then there can never be any new ideas. Tourism is down this year. Why come to China when there is nothing good or authentic in China to see? I see no reason.
rasklnik:
The kung-fu, poetry, landscape painter er-hu musician is largely dead among the youth. How often does a young person like Beijing Opera?
-I agree 100% with you, there really is NO Chinese Culture in the modern PRC among youth. They are all, with a few rare exception, Justin Beiber listening, Korean Soap-watching, Americans in their pursuit of social networking, pointless video games, and celebrity worship.
-My students have little interest in Melville, Dostoyevsky, or Poe, and glaze over when Euripides or Sophicles comes up in Drama class, yet they all know boy bands from Korea and stupid s*** on american TV.
I see very few things to write about China's culture. I can only hope for more artists like Ai Wei Wei. Artistic expression has always been ground zero in an explosion of culture. They have also always been the enemy of regimes like China. Bold and brave craftsmen are needed to burn the fires of culture. Unfortunately, I don't see that coming soon. In fact, I see a world-wide trend of a vanishing rich culture. Junk pop culture has taken over the world.
Scandinavian:
Ai Wei Wei I agree is an interesting character and as such part of Chinese culture. But he is also pretty much all about revolting against Chinese culture.
More of his kind would be great. If nothing else, he adds color to China.
For me chinese culture is incredibly simple. Im not a fan of the music or the art or the writings.
For me it is a sunday morning in my pajamas is a back alley cantonese seafood restaurant. Eating dim sum, drinking tea and reading the paper alone.
It is one of the very very few times i am in China and actually feel all is right in the world. If i can do that every day when I am old , then I did alright.
